


Give It Up For The Birthday Boy

by Sanctioned_Chaos



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Barely Holding it together Tony Stark, But he always gets the shit end of the stick instead, But i hope not too much, Happy Birthday Tony Stark, Howard is very keenly not mentioned, Hurt Tony Stark, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Tried, I really went there, IronFam is ridiculously adorable and heartwarming, It focuses more on feels than actual fixing, Like all the hugs, M/M, On what is supposed to be a happy day, Oneshot, Shit sorry, So naturally i made it worse, Someone just get me away from the keyboard pls, This is kind of an IW fix it bur not really, This isnt that good but theres some lines thats are just oo oo oom, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark deserves only good things, Too bad they're all dead, aka its an amalgamation of diff events from diff comic universes, bc he can suck it, everyone outside of thanos and tony are basically just mentions, im so sorry, it gets worse before it gets worse, kinda OOC, liberties taken with what happens after iw, like fine cuisine, lowkey im just a hoe for angst so i did this, thats it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 08:41:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctioned_Chaos/pseuds/Sanctioned_Chaos
Summary: It's Tony's 48th Birthday today and I decided to celebrate it by writing angst instead of happiness.OrTony salvages parts from the Guardians ship, tells Nebula to go to Earth and fill everyone in about their end of the battle, and heads to where Thanos is with a barely functioning suit and maybe a plan.





	Give It Up For The Birthday Boy

**Author's Note:**

> I got it into my head that I'd be *that* bish that writes angst instead of happiness on Tones's birthday just to prove to myself how metal I am metal. I am not metal and this made me sad. Instead of fixing what Infinity War broke I may have just made it worse??
> 
> I'm so sorry
> 
> unbeta-ed

_M-Mr. Stark? I hope I'm not being too forward but- Happy Birthday!_ _  
_ _  
_ _**[Harles]** HBD, Mr. Mechanic. _ _  
_ _  
_ _Happy Birthday, Boss._ _  
_ _  
_ _Never thought there'd be a day I both hated for bringing an absolute menace into the world, and loved, for giving me a brother who's an absolute menace. Happy Birthday, Tones. You're amazing and frankly, the rest of the world doesn't deserve you._ _  
_ _  
_ _I have meetings lined up all day but you couldn't honestly have thought I'd forget, did you? Happy Birthday, Tony. Take care of yourself, at least just for today, okay?_ _  
_ _  
_ _Anthony. Happy Birthday, Uthando._  
  
_Dr. Stark-_ Anthony _. Congratulations on the anniversary of your successful delivery into this world. I'm certain it was a messy affair for all parties involved, but humanity as a species is better for it._

* * *

  
  
Tony doesn't actually hear any of this, but it's what he imagines they might say if they were here. Words never said linger and float through the wind around him and not for the first time, Anthony Stark shakes. It's a full-body tremor and there's an ache in his heart that makes him feel hollow beyond belief, but this is something that needs to be done. His work must continue. He flies as low and silent as he can, the parts he salvaged from Quill’s ship only doing so much to help the otherwise rocky cruising behind strange, reddish trees larger and taller than three adult elephants stacked together.  
  
Titan.  
  
So this is what it used to look like before famine and tragedy took it.  
  
Bitterly, he thinks it's beautiful. Two suns, deep orange and bright blue, begin their dip into the horizon, multi-colored light illuminating the vast forest and lone house still several yards away from him. A little river ambles its way along lush grasses, alien versions of daisies spread out along rolling fields of gorgeous amber.  
  
A place like this? He'd miss it terribly, too. It would be way too easy to miss this, especially if he'd been born and raised here.  
  
Titan was beautiful and, somewhere deep inside him, Tony felt a sliver of brief empathy for the lone figure currently running his hands through the shifting grass.  
  
But it shouldn't have come at this price.  
  
Assuming this was the place where Thanos remembered being happiest, he could understand why the alien had been tempted. If Tony could be back in his mother's kitchen, mixing batter with Aunt Angie and sneaking cookies with Aunt Peggy right under Jarvis's nose while his mother looked on amused and conspiratorial... he'd most certainly be tempted, too.  
  
But never for this price.  
  
He loved his family so much- missed them every waking day(and he had a lot of those)- it had settled into a deep ache within his bones from before he could clearly remember.  
  
They would never forgive him if he did something like this, though. Not if it cost half the universe. Not if it took his new family from him, either.  
  
And that's why he couldn't forgive Thanos.  
  
He understood him, of course he understood him. It wasn't because he was a megalomaniac with an ego the size of actual America- both North and South- either. People always seemed to think that you had to be the worst to understand the worst.

 _Steve, Natasha, Clint_.

And they're partly right.  
  
Tony had been there once. Low- terribly low and terribly misguided- but even in his worst years, if he had been aware of his company selling to terrorists- he still would have charged into SI's conference room, 19 and green, and demanded they _shut. it. down_.  
  
So yes, Tony had been horrible- he still was- but he was improving, he was _trying_.  
  
And that's the part people didn't understand. Tony gets why Thanos thinks the way he does about the Universe because the Titan is pragmatic- cruel sure but in some way, you have to admit, the theory makes sense. If we have limited resources, why not cut down the number of greedy bodies those resources go to?  
  
Yes, Thanos's thinking makes sense, logically. But people aren't defined by cold hard facts, by statistics on a warmly-colored arrow descending into zero.  
  
People are memories, affections and attentions, laughter and joy, fear and courage, pride and shame, material objects and immaterial sensations. People are stories, universes, homes.  
  
And now, only half remained.  
  
"Congratulations, you crazy son of a bitch. You got your home back. But you took mine and several trillions' away in order to do it and that's a problem."  
  
The Mad Titan was silent, revelling in the feeling of his home's familiar scent, carried by indulgent breezes. Tony drew closer, heart beating fast inside his very human chest, despite the several layers of enforced armor surrounding it.  
  
"Come on, big guy. At the very least, deign to grace me with a response. I came all this way after all."  
  
"You made your journey in vein, Tony Stark. Nothing you do here will alter the course of what has occurred. The Gauntlet will remain in my possession no matter what you attempt."

Tony scoffed.  
  
"So what, I should just consider myself lucky for being one of the chosen few?"  
  
Thanos stopped his ministrations familiarizing himself with his lost world and finally turned towards him. The alien cut an imposing figure between the backdrop of Titan's setting suns and, close as he was, Tony stood just shy of his shadow's long reach.  
  
"Yes, you should. The Gauntlet deigned to spare your life, Stark, when it could have just as easily turned you into the ash that mingles with my planet's earth right now."  
  
"Basically, what you're saying is, I should count my blessings for not becoming fertilizer for your cannibal of a planet." Tony snarked.  
  
This place was so foreign it was unsettling. Beautiful yes, but equally savage. He's pretty sure he saw some pinkish quadraped thibg  get swallowed up by the ground earlier mid-grazing.  
  
"Not at all. Titan doesn't make a habit of consuming it's superior native species. My planet only devours the weak specimens, and alien intruders, of course." Thanos tipped his head towards him at that last part and Tony didn't miss the way the ground beneath the suit slowly sank under him.  
  
He fired the repulsors back on and decided hovering would be the best. He didn't actually want to become this planet's next meal, no matter how beautiful it was on the outside.  
  
"I don't see how it couldn't have just evolved to include your species when it was dying the first time around. Might've made it easier on everyone." He murmured.  
  
Thanos raised an eyebrow.  
  
"It did."  
  
Tony blinked.  
  
"I see."  
  
"I have returned it to the state it was in before our great tragedy, and as such it remains in a healthy state thanks to the sacrifice of your friends. Titan found them very nutritious."  
  
Without thinking, Tony fires a shot at the alien's head but Thanos dodges the energy beam idly. Iron Man doesn't do it again and the Mad Titan goes on as if nothing had happened.  
  
"And even if my planet saw fit to devour my being, the Gauntlet would still be out of your reach. Planet's are ever so difficult to fight when they've become sentient and hold the power of the Universe quite literally in their hands."  
  
"Do they?" Tony flies lazy circles around the Titan. "Do planets have hands? How would that even work?"  
  
"My attempt at a Terran explanation falls flat of its purpose but, sadly, I don't think either of us have the time or patience to sit through an explanation of the biology of worlds."  
  
"I thought you had all of Time quite literally in your hands. Or around them, at the very least." Tony hopes his tone conveys the eyebrow he's raising up from underneath Iron Man's faceplate.  
  
"You'll find the air here, Stark, is rather agreeable to your human respiratory system. I see no need to heighten your baseless condescension in hopes I understand without what I'm sure are your very vivid facial expressions."  
  
Tony snaps the faceplate up faster than he can blink- daring the Titan. If nothing else, he's always been a brat.  
  
"Thanks. 'Was getting stuffy in there." The billionaire smiles, predatory.  
  
It's a lie of course, the suit filters out the surrounding atmosphere to provide Tony with breathable internal conditions and, in places without the necessary elements, he has his own private supply of oxygen installed into the nanotech closest to the reactor. Nevertheless, both of them are playing a cat and mouse game here and Tony's always been more of a feline man. Besides, he's never been one to stop in the middle.  
  
Starks don't do anything by halves.

"You know, if you stay still, I promise not to kill you quickly, and to make it as painful as possible."  
  
Thanos chuckles indulgently at that, hands behind his back and treading softly, farther and farther from Tony. Iron Man flies after at a safe distance.  
  
"If you stay still, I promise to lock you in a time loop and keep you stuck experiencing the moment if your demise for the rest of eternity."  
  
Tony smiles mockingly.  
  
"How kind of you, Purple Rain."  
  
"So what will it be?" Thanos calls back at him, imploring.  
  
"How about, whatever route ends with me leaving this place with that Gauntlet and you in excruciating pain?"

Thanos- doing the most undignified thing Tony's ever seen from him- snorts.  
  
"Let me tell you, Stark, I've had time to witness every reality- much like your sorcerer friend did- and I saw none like the one you describe."  
  
Tony flinches at the mention of Stephen, blood heating and heart dropping inside him. Iron Man's hands clench into tight fists and he hopes more than anything that T’challa is still safe back on Earth.  
  
"Well, I guess you didn't look hard enough, Raisin Bran, because there's always a first time for everything."  
  
They reach the house on the hill and Thanos enters without stopping. Tony swings around and meets the Titan on what looks like an alien version of a porch, landing with a light thud on the metal-wrought patio.  
  
"My favorite daughter paid with her life for me to achieve this reality. If I could sacrifice her, my Gamora, what makes you think I'll let you make her death meaningless by taking back the stones?"  
  
"Because, Grapeface, I'm going to make her death obsolete. I'm going to make all their deaths obsolete."

"Oh?"

"Newsflash, asshole. _You don't just get to decide the death date of a trillion lives around the Universe_." Tony bites out.  
  
Thanos walks forward to rest his hands on the balcony, peering at the rapidly darkening land before them. He turns towards Tony.  
  
"And who are you to decide that they return? Who are you in this great wide, unimaginable-in-its-magnanimity, Universe, Stark? A mere man in a suit of Iron? A genius far from home and a billionaire separated from his resources?"  
  
  
Tony blinks and for a second, he’s far, far away from this alien planet and this mad titan.

For a second, he's back in another time, another place, another _age_.  
  
For a second, Tony is back on Earth, sitting and smiling gently down at a scattered mess of whipped cream and sprinkles that was Peter and Harley's willfull attempt at a birthday cake. For a second, he can see Pepper's smile behind the camera while Happy looks smugly on, both finding endless amusement in his suffering from Rhodey screaming the birthday song into his face while DUM-E and the bots sprayed confetti and silly string absolutely everywhere. For a second, he can feel his eyes mist over as FRIDAY insisted on playing old footage of his birthday parties until he was five- Jarvis and Anna and Angie and Peggy and _Mom_ pressing wet kisses into his skin and lifting him up like they knew someday their little Antonio could only ever be meant for the sky. For a second, Tony can feel himself being pulled out of the bittersweet memories by calloused and scarred hands on either side of his face. For a second, Tony can see himself being confused because both the loves of his life were beside him and he didn't know where to look. For a second, Tony feels bright, untainted, and unbridled joy at the feeling of tender kisses placed on his cheeks and on his forehead.  
  
For a second, Tony's world consists only of sorcerers and kings.  
  
"Happy Birthday, Anthony."

  
  
Brown eyes, heavy with determination, look up into unrepentant, purple irises.

 

“Who am I? I'm the fiance of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, king’s consort to the Black Panther and King of Wakanda, and a dad to both a superhuman spider and budding engineering virtuoso. And yeah I’m a genius, yeah I'm a billionaire, but most of all: I'm a guy who just turned 48, light years from home. I'm desperate, old, and very, very pissed.”

  
This time Thanos doesn't have time to dodge the repulsor shot to his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are very much appreciated aka this author's a thirsty bish


End file.
